Authors: Angela Rajchevska and Bjanka Stankovikj SDSM Secretary General Ljupco Nikolovski and VMRO-DPMNE Undersecretary Igor Janushev are the locomotives of their parties to win as many seats in the Assembly as possible in the early parliamentary elections expected to be held this summer. Bekim Neziri from DUI and Bekim Tateshi from the AA-Alternative coalition are expected to be side players due to the small chances for their parties to win at least one term. This constituency has the most municipalities, a total of 24 – from northeast, east and part of central Macedonia. The municipalities covered by this constituency are: Shtip, Veles, Kochani, Kriva Palanka, Sveti Nikole, Vinica, Berovo, Delchevo, Pehchevo, Probishtip, Kratovo, Makedonska Kamenica, Ilinden, Zelenikovo, Petrovec, Gradsko, Lozovo, Zrnovci, Karbinci, Kumanovo (part), Rankovce, Staro Nagorichane (part), Chashka and Cheshinovo-Obleshevo. Nikolovski with property worth 121 thousand Euros, Shahpaska...

Authors: Angela Rajchevska and Bjanka Stankovikj The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, Radmila Shekjerinska, is leading the fifth constituency, together with the current MP, Jovan Mitreski. A holder of the VMRO-DPMNE list is the opera singer Igor Durlovski, DUI will be in Constituency 5 led by the speaker Talat Xhaferi and the coalition AA-Alternative with Surija Rashidi. All with rich political and institutional careers and fairly long property lists. Constituency 5 is one of the six constituencies in Macedonia. This constituency includes municipalities from southwest Macedonia, a total of 14, including: Bitola (great part), Ohrid, Struga, Kichevo (part), Resen, Demir Hisar, Krushevo, Dolneni, Vevchani, Plasnica, Debar, Mavrovo and Rostusha, Debarca, Krivogashtani (part) and Centar Zhupa. Shekjerinska with property worth 330 thousand Euros, twice more than Mitreski Radmila Sekerinska became a Minister of Defense in 2017. Previously, she...

Authors: Angela Rajchevska and Bjanka Stankovikj A constituency that covers the municipalities of northwest Macedonia as number six, and in this early election it will be led by the DUI and the Alliance for Albanians leaders, Ali Ahmeti and Ziadin Sela. Constituency 6 covers the territory of 11 municipalities: Tetovo, Gostivar, Tearce, Brvenica, Bogovinje, Vrapchishte, Zhelino, Jegunovce and Kichevo (part). Ahmeti has declared property worth 134, and Sela – 192 thousand Euros DUI party leader Ali Ahmeti will run in the sixth constituency. While he was an MP, Ahmeti declared an agricultural land worth 30,000 US dollars to the State Commission for Prevention of Corruption, as well as a house in Kichevo worth 100,000 US dollars and a transaction account of 12,333 Euros. His wife owns a 7,000-Euro Volkswagen Polo. The value of Ali Ahmeti’s declared property is 134,076...

Within the PEP project, SCOOP continues to publish the profiles of the holders of the electoral lists, with reference to their property status. Authors: Angela Rajchevska and Bjanka Stankovikj Neither at the second meeting did the leaders of the parliamentary parties agree on the date of the parliamentary elections. June, July or August – are the months when SDSM and VMRO-DPMNE are looking for a day when citizens will express their views, despite the impossibility to predict whether the risk of the COVID 19 virus will disappear by then. It is expected to be “hot” in Constituency 2, where the holders of the candidate lists are Oliver Spasovski and Sanja Lukarevska from SDSM, Vlado Misajlovski from VMRO-DPMNE, Arber Ademi from DUI and Afrim Gashi from the coalition Alliance of Albanians-Alternative. This constituency covers the territory of 10...

Author: Mirjana Vasileva Journalist Hristo Ivanovski believes that, despite the modern trends, there are still media outlets that are close to the government and the opposition. “As long as the media is influenced by different centers of power, there will be no professional journalism. The media is constantly targeting journalists to write commissioned texts or just read it, even though they themselves often do not know what the background is at the moment, ”Ivanovski says. In the recent period, he adds, “we are seeing improvements in journalism, but more responsibility is needed. In some newsrooms, there are constant pressures and often if a journalist refuses to write biased on a particular topic, he or she faces a salary penalty or threats of dismissal if he or she fails to do what he or she is told. ” “This requires...

Author: Mirjana Vasileva For the needs of this story we conducted a survey with 30 journalists from print and electronic media in the country, which was conducted between November 20 and December 20, 2019. According to the results of the survey, clientelist practices and corruption in the media existed during the previous and during the present government also. Most journalists responded affirmatively to the question of whether there were clientelistic practices in the media during the previous government. To the question “Are clientelist practices in the media space still present during this government”, 86.6% answered “yes”. Of the three reasons used for influencing the media and journalists, the results showed that the majority of journalists consider media and individuals to be the most likely cause of funding, with a smaller number believing that it is the political pressures that...